Two bands, two stages . . . one night! The Red Bull Soundclash at Halsey Street’s Shed 2 was the place to be on Friday 22 August, when two bands from opposing camps met to duke it out musically . . . and duke it out they did! For one night only, four piece rockers Elemeno P performed head to head against soul collective Opensouls to win the favour of the crowd.
The first round went to Elemeno P, whose cover of the Split Enz classic “I Got You” bought the shed down, whilst the second “takeover” round saw Opensouls hit the rockers where it hurt as the audience called their version of Elemeno P’s “Baby Come On” superior to the original. The true “clash” happened in round three, which saw the bands battle over classic tracks like “Crazy in Love”, “Walk This Way” and “Satisfaction”, before they introduced their wildcard entries – Elemeno P’s being Che Fu and Opensoul’s secret weapon Ladi 6. The crowd went wild, the crowd was surfed, and the end result was declared a draw . . .
Elemeno P bassist Lani Purkis called the event “one of the funnest gigs ever, I swear!”, with band mate Dave Gibson wholeheartedly in agreement. "That was seriously the most fun I've had in ages, and even though it was a draw, given that both bands had two members from Glenfield on stage I think it's safe to say that Glenfield was the winner on the night".
Hosted by Brooke Howard-Smith and refereed by hip hop heavy weight, DJ D-Form, the inaugural Red Bull Soundclash left the audience truly not knowing what hit them.